Widgit Symbols Development Project

Acknowledgement of Contributors

The new Widgit Symbols (previously know as Widgit Rebus), was built upon the development of the original Rebus
Symbol Collection, first developed by Judy van Oosterom and Kathleen
Devereux. Full acknowledgment to contributors to this set are given
below.

Acknowledgements to contributors to the new Widgit
Symbol Collection

The project was co-ordinated by Helen Whittle, Speech
and Language Therapist. Drawings were done by Cate Detheridge

The consultative group
This group worked consistently throughout the 10 months of the development
phase of the project. We are very grateful for the quality, consistency
and speed of their responses throughout the project. Without them the
work would not have reached such a high quality.

Our thanks also to Shân Oswald, Penny Brewer, Jo grant and Rös Cornwell,
from Cambridgshire LEA, for contributions to the science vocabulary

Acknowledgements to contributors to the original Rebus Symbol Collection.

The original Rebus Symbol Collection was developed by Judy van Oosterom
and Kathleen Devereux, from the US Rebuses developed in Nashville, Tennessee.

The initial Rebus Glossary was developed in the UK by Judy van Oosterom
and Kathleen Devereux. This set, comprising around 800 symbols was published
in 1985 by LDA. During the period 1994 to 1998, Widgit worked closely
with Judy van Oosterom to develop the symbols to reach a list of some
4000 items.

We are grateful to the following contributors to this collection:

Chailey Heritage School, in particular to Valerie Moffatt and
Liz Meek.
The Chailey Heritage Symbol Collection, which used Rebus symbols, was
developed in collaboration between Widgit and Chailey Heritage School
to meet the needs of children and young adults with complex communication
needs.

The Ken Jones Memorial Project
Ken Jones worked for many years in teacher education at the University
of the West of England (formerly Bristol University). Throughout his
career he maintained a strong interest in the use of symbols to enhance
reading. As a memorial to Ken, a project was set up to develop additional
symbols for the Rebus Symbol Collection in the area of personal development.

Erica Brown
Erica has long been involved in religious spiritual and moral education
of children with special educational needs. Erica worked with members
of six different faith groups to provide a core of symbols to promote
inter-faith understanding.

Signalong
Signalong have developed comprehensive signing vocabularies for people
with learning difficulties. To compliment these signs Signalong and
Widgit collaborated to develop additional symbols so that there are
symbol equivalents for all of the signs in their basic vocabularies.
In particular we are grateful to Kay Meinertzhagen and Jill Kennard
for contribution to the designs.

Sue Norton
Sue Norton is a teacher of science in a special school release. She
developed the initial science symbols, which were included in the Rebus
Symbol Collection. We are very grateful to Sue for her continued interest
in the symbol development and in new approaches to symbol use to support
children with learning difficulties.

And also to David Banes, Wendy Newton, Clare Martin, Andy Carmichael
and Judy Sebba for their advice and critical reviews of the earlier
symbols.